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Old Time, New Host for #StoryCraft

I have just posted this on The StoryCraft Blog and, since hosting #storycraft has been such a big part of my life these last 18 months (often my only regular appointment for the week,) I think it’s significant enough to post here on my personal blog, too. For those of you who have come here prompted by the invitation at the end of this post – sorry for the double-up!

As you all know, when I moved to Bangkok about 2 months ago, the old #storycraft time became around 4a.m. for me (depending on US DST) so I moved the chat to 10pm Bangkok time, which was about 11a.m. Sunday, New York Time. After a good 6 weeks, those of you who have been managing to get to this new time won’t deny that it’s proving to be too early in North America to get enough people together for a fast flowing, idea-inspiring #storycraft. I’ve tried to will the time zones to work in some better way but, alas, I don’t have such god-like power and I have had to admit that I have moved to the very worst time zone from which to host a tweetchat.

I am too fond & too proud of #storycraft and its community to let the chat die because of my time zone so I have faced the fact that, if the time can’t move then the host will have to change.

I have asked the lovely Kim Koning (@AuthorKimKoning), an original #storycraft regular, who lives in New Zealand, if she would take over hosting #storycraft at the old time (3pm Sunday, US Pacific)and she has very kindly agreed to do so, starting next week.

Kim & I have similar sensibilities when it comes to the craft (we are both ‘hybrid’ pantster-planners) and agree on why a chat without ‘biz’ talk is valuable. She has a background in journalism, so her communication and editing skills are strong and she writes fiction so she understands what “my characters keep me awake at night” means and won’t be suggesting anyone needs to see a psychologist! Kim also shares my strong beliefs regarding no self-promotion during the chat and has a tougher skin than I (I feel horrible for hours after I’ve had to come down on even the worst troll) so will be able to keep those who are only interested in self-promo away from the chat at least as well as I have. I have every confidence that she will be a great host and I’m a little jealous of you all that you’ll get to participate!

When I announced this change on this week’s #Storycraft, I was asked if I will be participating at all. As Kim put it in a tweet last night, #storycraft will still be “@Danisidhe’s baby” – first and foremost because asking someone to take over the whole thing would be asking too much but also because, at this stage, Kim can only commit until February, so I’ll be looking for other solutions after that. Of course, I also don’t want to pull out entirely – I’m not doing this because I want to – but I will be leaving Kim sole control when it comes to hosting and chat topics because trying to host a topic imposed by someone else is just too difficult. Of course I’ll be supporting Kim in any way she needs and I’ll still be webmaster, so I’ll see the transcripts as I pull them each week & I might comment on the blog or Facebook between chats. Kim and I are both admins on the Facebook Page and Group, so we’ll both participate there, too. As to the chats themselves, if I am up at 4a.m. on Monday mornings, I’ll definitely pop in to participate because I’m going to miss everyone, but I hope that that will be rare because that would mean my insomnia is back!

There will be a period of rebuilding as the chat moves back to its old time and I hope that as many of you as possible will return to help Kim make that transition. Kim will be using her own account: @AuthorKimKoning, not @Story_Craft to host, so anything from @Story_Craft (or @Danisidhe), you’ll know is me 🙂 Do follow @AuthorKimKoning and Kim’s Facebook page for updates, as well as The StoryCraft Blog for transcripts and other communications from both Kim and I.

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful chats I’ve been lucky enough to host over the last 18months, I hope to see you all around the #storycraft interwebs very soon. If you’d like to keep up with me outside of #storycraft, do come say ‘Hi’ over at my personal blog: Narrative Disorder and/or on Facebook.

About

Writer, reader, traveler, gadget geek, dilettante photographer and ancient history buff. I used to turn other writers' stories into audio books, now I write my own. My debut novel, As Long As She Lives, is out now!